Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

Get an extra 5% off Malaysia Airlines sale fares this weekend

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Malaysia Airlines is running a special promotion with Visa this weekend.

You can save an additional 5% on all tickets in both Economy and Business as long as you travel by 6th May.  You can ONLY get the discount if you book via this page of the Malaysia Airlines website.

As well as Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Airlines has good connections to Australia and elsewhere in Asia.  Remember that you earn Avios and British Airways tier points when you fly with Malaysia Airlines as both are members of the oneworld alliance.

Malaysia Airlines has recently taken delivery of new A350-900 aircraft and is now operating them on the Heathrow to Kuala Lumpur route.  There are two daily departures from Terminal 4 at 10.25 and 21.25.

Full details of the new planes are on their website here.  The Business Class layout looks pretty good.  It is a staggered 1-2-1 or 1-2-2 layout, similar to Aer Lingus.  It even has two Aer Lingus-style ‘throne’ seats on the right-hand side.

On the left, one row has ‘table / seat’, the one behind ‘seat / table’ and so on, so that your feet slot under the table area of the seat in front.  The Qatar Qsuite works in a similar way.

Your best option to maximise your miles when paying is American Express Preferred Rewards Gold.  This offers double points – 2 per £1 – when you when you book flight tickets directly with an airline.  Our review of Amex Gold is here.

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best credit card to use when buying flights

How to maximise your miles when paying for flights (May 2025)

Some UK credit cards offer special bonuses when used for buying flights. If you spend a lot on airline tickets, using one of these cards could sharply increase the credit card points you earn.

Booking flights on any airline?

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold earns double points (2 Membership Rewards points per £1) when used to buy flights directly from an airline website.

The card comes with a sign-up bonus of 20,000 Membership Rewards points. These would convert to 20,000 Avios or various other airline or hotel programmes. The standard earning rate is 1 point per £1.

You can apply here.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold Credit Card

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Buying flights on British Airways?

The British Airways American Express Premium Plus credit card earns double Avios (3 Avios per £1) when used at ba.com.

The card comes with a sign-up bonus of 30,000 Avios. The standard earning rate is 1.5 Avios per £1.

You do not earn bonus Avios if you pay for BA flights on the free British Airways American Express credit card or either of the Barclaycard Avios Mastercards.

You can apply here.

British Airways American Express Premium Plus Card

30,000 Avios and the famous annual Companion Voucher voucher Read our full review

Buying flights on Virgin Atlantic?

Both the free Virgin Atlantic Reward Mastercard and the annual fee Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard earn double Virgin Points when used at fly.virgin.com.

This means 1.5 Virgin Points per £1 on the free card and 3 Virgin Points per £1 on the paid card.

There is a sign-up bonus of 3,000 Virgin Points on the free card and 18,000 Virgin Points on the paid card.

You can apply for either of the cards here.

Virgin Atlantic Reward Mastercard

3,000 bonus points, no fee and 1 point for every £1 you spend Read our full review

Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard

18,000 bonus points and 1.5 points for every £1 you spend Read our full review

Category

oneworld alliance partners

Comments (112)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • Joel says:
    15 Feb15 February 05:31

    Drake dates are actually 4th, 5th and 8th if you check closely. This is a Marriott error.

    Nearly booked for 6th option yesterday then realised at very last minute it is actually for 5th (which I can’t do!)

  • Youngtraveller says:
    15 Feb15 February 05:53

    Tried to book with Malaysian but the site doesn’t seem to work. Tried different options ex sin to dxb, sin to lhr and lhr to kul but keeps saying “Please reconfirm your origin, destination and Cabin class”
    I’m on phone browser could be the reason. Anyone have the same issue ?

    • youngtraveller says:
      15 Feb15 February 10:21

      got it now thanks

    • BJ says:
      15 Feb15 February 10:41

      Don’t book without checking the mainstream OLTA too as Malaysia is sometimes cheaper there.

    • Gavin says:
      15 Feb15 February 12:23

      I’ve messaged Malaysia Airlines on facebook – apparently it shows this ‘helpful’ message when the offer is not available on those dates – as i pointed out to them, its like looking for a needle in a haystack…yes another quality implementation by the Malaysia team….their last few promos have failed to work too.

  • Yawn says:
    15 Feb15 February 06:06

    When I had a Nationwide current account, I always felt the Rewards just too cumbersome. They were difficult to find. I forgot that they existed and then would stumble on them on their site. And most just weren’t worth the hassle.

    • Shoestring says:
      15 Feb15 February 06:52

      The Halifax Visa Rewards were a tad difficult to find as well – until I realised I could get £30 off my Council Tax at Co-Op, 4x a year, when I decided to put a bit more effort into it.

      • AndyK says:
        15 Feb15 February 11:52

        I haven’t seen Co-op offer for a while on my Halifax.
        Any clever ways to bring it back?

  • Cat says:
    15 Feb15 February 06:17

    O/T (sorry) I’m rapidly coming to the conclusion that my school is never going to release their 2019-2020 term dates, or at least not before the £200 off £600 offer on my AMEX Plat closes (and I planned my holidays up to and including this summer long ago).
    Can I book travel in a friend’s name friend on my card using this offer? It would be a shame to see the discount go to waste, and I’m sure one of my friends would appreciate it!

    • AndyGWP says:
      15 Feb15 February 06:27

      I don’t see why not 🙂

      • Cat says:
        15 Feb15 February 07:02

        Brilliant, thanks Andy and Harry!

      • ankomonkey says:
        15 Feb15 February 09:48

        Confirmed. Booked a flight for my wife just yesterday and paid with my card (as her supplementary doesn’t have the offer).

    • John says:
      15 Feb15 February 06:40

      If they want to change their flights amex will need to speak to them and you

    • BJ says:
      15 Feb15 February 08:24

      Definitely, I’ve done this.

    • Nick M says:
      15 Feb15 February 12:41

      I think the council should have published their dates even if the school hasn’t… there may be a few days difference for training days etc but they should show the key weeks?

      • Lady London says:
        15 Feb15 February 15:09

        could be a private school. Personally I’d target the long summer holidays then if that could work. also travel expenditure might surely include vouchers for later use? or flexible tickets that could later be changed?

        • Lady London says:
          15 Feb15 February 15:09

          Thinking of which doesn’t Harrods have a travel office inside it run by one of the major travel agents but possible to pay with Harrods card and gift vouchers? It’s a while since I’ve been there…

        • Shoestring says:
          15 Feb15 February 18:43

          Our 2 youngsters at regular state schools are lucky in that the schools have both got their act together pretty well and publish all dates (incl training days etc) well over a year in advance. In the past, in the absence of such information, I just phoned the secretariat and got the missing training days. As Nick M says, state schools will pretty much always comply with the county set holiday dates, published 2-3 years in advance. Devon has one oddity in that some schools take 2 weeks at October half term but luckily that doesn’t apply to us.

        • Cat says:
          15 Feb15 February 20:56

          Lambeth have published, the school hasn’t (and they often deviate). They wait until all of the key feeder primary schools have published their dates, and THEN they coordinate as best they can and publish, to make it easy for families with both primary and secondary kids to have a holiday all together. It’s laudable, but a total pain in the @**e if you have a birthday that may (or may not) fall in the one week long October half term, have a significant discount on flights ticking away towards the expiry date when the January sales have already passed you by long ago, and you were planning on infinite journeying your way to *A Gold with Singapore Airlines (to either Kuala Lumpur, Manila or Denpasar, I’m not fussy)!

          It’s a state school (the idea of teaching in a school where children may occasionally pull DYKWMFI on me does not appeal, or very occasionally DYKWMMI). The problem is that I’ve filled my 6 weeks summer holiday (to bursting, I’m going to be very busy! I do realise that this is the most first world of first world problems BTW, and I am hanging my head in shame slightly), October half term is just 1 week (it’s kind of binary – either it’s that week, or it’s not, and flexible flights would negate the £200 discount), I’ve already promised to spend next Xmas with my OH’s family, to reciprocate for this year, and 2020 isn’t bookable yet. Boo.

        • Cat says:
          15 Feb15 February 21:24

          TBH, after this summer, a calm week that is in keeping with my recent status as a quadragenarian might be in order. I’m fine with helping someone else have a fabulous holiday. I get a lot of them!

          My sister and family (her husband and my gorgeous nieces aged 3 years and 6 weeks) get first dibs, both from an altruistic and a nepotistic point of view! Am I right in thinking that Ryanair and Easyjet don’t really come up in AMEX travel searches, but Vueling and TAP do?

          Also, side note, but Rob – is there now a SPAG check? Love it (and need it after half term drinks!)!

        • Cat says:
          15 Feb15 February 21:26

          Thanks for Harrods / A&K suggestions, the thought was appreciated.

        • Cat says:
          15 Feb15 February 21:43

          Harry, also, that’s a density of schools thing. Your schools have probably got their act together because (unless the school is really close to the Cornwall, Somerset or Dorset borders) they coordinate with feeder primary schools within the same council. Our secondary school is close to the border with Southwark, Croydon and Bromley, all of which have their own set of term dates. One family might have kids in our school and a Croydon primary. Another family might have kids in our school and a Southwark primary school. Trying to coordinate term dates as best they can for all of the families with kids all over the place is a nightmare. For everyone.

        • Shoestring says:
          15 Feb15 February 21:56

          Yep I guess it’s a lot easier in the rural counties – I just pulled up the term dates for Cornwall & Devon and they are identical (inset days apart) except for 2 days

        • Cat says:
          15 Feb15 February 22:46

          Also worth bearing in mind – if a parent comes a cropper of term dates it’s a £60 fine. If a teacher did it, it would be gross misconduct. Or cancelled flights, when we don’t have the salary for flexible flights.
          One of many, many reasons I’m here!

  • Genghis says:
    15 Feb15 February 06:24

    HSBC offers: had £10 off £50 at Waitrose a few weeks ago so bought a £50 JL voucher. Offers aren’t all useless.

    • Shoestring says:
      15 Feb15 February 06:55

      Halifax have 10% max £30 c/b @Waitrose on my Visa Rewards right now. Zero use for 10% off their giftcards.

      • Genghis says:
        15 Feb15 February 07:23

        Not on mine. Had the Co op offer, however, so prepaid £300 of next year’s CT.

        • Polly says:
          15 Feb15 February 08:48

          Genghis,
          Where do you find the Waitrose offer on hsbc. How often do they change them, and are you able to set an alert when new offers come in like with amex?
          Tnx..first l realised there were offers with that card!

          • Rob says:
            15 Feb15 February 10:31

            Waitrose offer has gone but it was there before Christmas. First HSBC offer I have ever used!

        • Genghis says:
          15 Feb15 February 09:02

          The link is in the article. It’s luck of the draw as to what you get. I get an email once a week with updates.

        • Andrew says:
          15 Feb15 February 10:05

          Callum

          Calm down. It comes from the same Visa Europe & Mastercard funding pots for these schemes. Different organisations present it differently. There’s no “magic money” that creates the discounts.

          I know you’ll refuse to reply to this, but haven’t you read the internal scheme specification documents?

      • Callum says:
        15 Feb15 February 08:46

        I wouldn’t worry then – it’s run by Lloyds not Visa, so even if Visa closes their schemes it shouldn’t be affected.

      • Mark2 says:
        15 Feb15 February 08:49

        No, this is Visa on Halifax, Nationwide, First Direct etc.

      • Callum says:
        15 Feb15 February 08:58

        No, Halifax don’t do Visa offers – and after a quick search I can’t see any evidence they ever have.

        HSBC, First Direct and Nationwide do. Halifax does not – they use the Lloyds scheme. It works differently and also works on MasterCard.

      • Callum says:
        15 Feb15 February 09:10

        They’re very obviously different schemes (why on Earth you think Visa would reward spending on a Mastercard I have no idea). If you refuse to either accept what I say or look for yourself then so be it.

      • Callum says:
        15 Feb15 February 09:54

        Jesus Christ I’m not replying again about this. IT IS NOT THE SAME THING.

        It’s the same concept yes, but it is NOT the same scheme. It may seem pedantic, but is very relevant to my original point, which was Visa possibly closing their scheme won’t affect this.

      • SimonW says:
        15 Feb15 February 09:58

        Calm down dear. Calm down. Let it go

    • BJ says:
      15 Feb15 February 10:55

      Worth remembering a deal is really only a deal if we would used it anyway, if deals tempt us to spend what we might otherwise not have spent then we are on a slippey slope. A bit like miles, I wish I had a £ for everybody that has redeemed avios when they should have paid cash.

    • Russ says:
      15 Feb15 February 12:23

      Andrew, do these cash back rates affect any status you have with hotel chains or is it completely a BOS extra thing? I can’t remember the last time I used a debit card to reserve rooms. Thanks.

      • Genghis says:
        15 Feb15 February 12:27

        @Russ. It’s completely different. The alternative is not getting points via another payment card.

      • Russ says:
        15 Feb15 February 12:58

        Right, thanks Genghis. Something to think about.

      • Andrew says:
        15 Feb15 February 13:16

        No affect whatsoever, so yes, I got the various points offers too.

        I’m not keen on using Debit Cards for hotels either, but when someone is waving £60 quid at you for using one… I’ve got 5 Current accounts with BoS, so I used one of my spares so there was no issue with pre-authorisations on my main account.

      • Russ says:
        15 Feb15 February 20:14

        Cheers Andrew. Worth listening to anyone who wants to give you £60 back for something you were doing anyway.

  • AndyGWP says:
    15 Feb15 February 06:27

    OT – with the UK credit card gone, what’s the best way to keep AAdvantage points alive (outside of flying?)

    I’m looking at just trying to get “a point” rather than transfer 1000 from Marriott, or buy 1000 direct from AA

    Shopping Portal seems like it could be the best way. Does anyone have any tips for a cheap purchase (there’s no eBay, Amazon or Banggood on there)

    Worth an ask

  • Alan says:
    15 Feb15 February 08:01

    Ah ame, although I didn’t find Nationwide Simply Rewards that good I did do very well out of their 10% off at Hilton offer when it coincided with a month-long stay!

  • Callum says:
    15 Feb15 February 08:32

    I’d assume visa rewards isn’t free considering most banks don’t seem to offer it, and Nationwide themselves were pretty late launching it.

    Protein World are also a pretty big company, and seem more widely used than most of the obscure luxury stuff I get on my Amex card! They’re stocked internationally and in big chains like Boots and Superdrug for a start.

    • Andrew says:
      15 Feb15 February 10:08

      I’m not sure why you are having tantrums about the scheme specific in threads above if you are now making assumptions about it.

      It’s almost as if you haven’t read any of the internal documents about the scheme specifics and how they are presented. Some of us have…

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